RIO Rio Tinto Plc

2345 GMT [Dow Jones] A cut in UBS's iron-ore forecasts prompts the bank to trim earnings forecasts for major miners BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU) and Rio Tinto Ltd. (RIO.AU). "Given BHP and Rio's dependency on iron ore... it is no surprise that our earnings decline by circa 10% plus," analysts write in a note, after lowering their 2014-2016 iron-ore estimates by as much as 9.6%. UBS cuts its FY15 EPS expectations for BHP by 9.5%. It cuts Rio's 17%. It does lift its price target on BHP to A$42.00 from A$41.00, but lowers Rio's to A$78.00 from A$81.50. Still, UBS retains a Buy rating on the stocks. "We advocate a defensive positioning in the sector," the analysts say. "BHP and Rio both fit this bill, in our view." (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; Twitter: @RhiannonHoyle)

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